Teachers baulk at Howard's chaplains

THOUSANDS of religious counsellors will be appointed to schools that join a new $90 million federal program to fill a significant "spiritual and pastoral" gap in services to Australian students.

THOUSANDS of religious counsellors will be appointed to schools that join a new $90 million federal program to fill a significant "spiritual and pastoral" gap in services to Australian students.

But while church leaders welcomed the program, announced by John Howard yesterday, teachers' groups attacked it as part of the Prime Minister's "fundamentalist approach" to education and values.

They rejected the need for counsellors to have a religious affiliation and questioned where suitable candidates would be found. Mr Howard emphasised that the three-year scheme, due to begin next year, would be voluntary and that it would be up to the whole school community to select their counsellor, who would then be vetted by the Government.

Jewish or Muslim schools, for example, could choose a chaplain from their own faith.

"It will, I believe, fill a very significant gap in the services available to school students," Mr Howard said.

"And my assessment of the Australian community is that, whatever its view about formal religious adherence may be, it does hunger for additional ways of looking at the spiritual and pastoral side of life."

Uniting Church in Australia president Gregor Henderson said where there had been experience of school chaplains, students, parents and teachers had been positive. "It is a good initiative for the young people of Australia," Reverend Henderson said.

But Australian Secondary Principals Association president Andrew Blair said his members would have "favoured a much more open funding arrangement on a per capita basis for every school in the country, to allow them to engage the right kind of support that they might need, whether it be a social worker, a psychologist or a chaplain".

Mr Blair condemned tying such support to a religious base.

"I'm not sure that all that many schools across the country will opt to pick it up," he said.

"This kind of new fundamentalist zeal that seems to be coming out of Canberra is frankly out of step with what the education community really needs."

Australian Education Union federal president Pat Byrne said schools should be able to opt for a non-religious counsellor.

"Most schools would welcome the additional resource," Ms Byrne said. "The difficulty is that they have to be a chaplain representing an organised religious group."

Australian Primary Principals Association president Leonie Trimper warned there could be problems in implementation.

"Where are (chaplains) going to come from? Who is going to train them?" she asked.

"Just because you have religious knowledge does not mean you are going to make a good counsellor."

Former NSW premier Bob Carr, who has actively supported Mr Howard's push to revitalise the teaching of Australian history in schools, accused him of crossing the boundary between church and state.

"Taxpayers' money should not be asked to fund chaplaincies," Mr Carr said. "Churches should continue to enjoy absolute freedom to raise money and spend it on proselytising, but not with taxpayers' money. What if a poorly attended parent meeting chose a jihadist imam from a small Muslim prayer hall? How do you knock back that choice without offending the anti-discrimination laws?"